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This website covers knowledge management, personal effectiveness, theory of constraints, amongst other topics. Opinions expressed here are strictly those of the owner, Jack Vinson, and those of the commenters.

Jul 26 Half-baked ideas

How many times to you or a colleague have a brilliant insight that will solve the world's problems? Does that insight go anywhere, or does it sit on the pile of other insights? Or you try to do something with it but run into roadblocks that make the idea harder harder to implement. Welcome to the half-baked idea.

Every time you have a thought bubble that says, “I am right!”, deliberately pause and ask, “What if I’m wrong? What if there’s a different way to see this?” Innovation doesn’t mean you walk around wondering if you’re wrong all the time. The idea is to force yourself (every now and then) to open your mind, suspend your assumptions and judgment, and simply ponder, “What if…?”

While Holly is thinking about innovation, I think this has connections with any kind of idea: improvements, new hires, rearranging the furniture, etc. etc.

Great ideas are only that. There is no requirement that you take action on them. But if you do, along with fitting that new project into all the others, you must take another look at the idea with the "What if" thought in mind: "What negatives could come out of implementing this idea?" (I'm assuming the idea is there because you / the group believe it will have a positive impact.) You certainly don't want to find yourself halfway through an implementation, only to discover those unintended consequences.

This is not a suggestion to kill ideas simply because there are negative ramifications. It is a suggestion to verify that those negatives could really happen, and decide how to prevent those negatives from happening while still getting the benefit from the original idea. This might be part of a risk management practice, or it could be part of being smart about deciding how to do things.

The Theory of Constraints community has a specific logic tool, called Negative Branch Reservations (NBR) which is used to help understand how the negatives can come out of the great idea. There are usually things like, "If we do X, then we'll run out of money before the benefits are realized." Or "If we do that, then I will lose my job." They aren't always articulated so clearly, so you have to listen. But then job of the team is to first check the reality of these statements (will she really lose her job?). If the negative could happen (the budget might run really thin), then you must develop ways to overcome the problems. And decide whether the idea is still worth it.

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This blog is about knowledge management, personal effectiveness, theory of constraints and other topics. Opinions expressed here are strictly those of the owner, Jack Vinson, and those of the commenters.